Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:
Teaching English calls on many talents. High school English courses cover both language and literature, including poetry, prose, drama, and non-fiction. Students require preparation for a variety of standardized tests, and teachers can choose from an ever-widening array of new technologies to enhance their lessons and broaden their knowledge. For any of these categories, you may wonder where to begin. These resources are meant to provide the answer. The Complete Guide to Resources for High School English Teachers provideS you with an organized, curated, and annotated guide to the most fundamental and broadly useful resources for all the tasks involved in teaching high school English.
High School English Teaching Fundamentals
Becoming a teacher requires many steps, and so does the ongoing development of your pedagogical skills. These resources will help guide you through the process of becoming a teacher, offer ways of learning about pedagogy, and show you how to connect to other teachers for support and ideas.
Getting Certified
Each U.S. state has certification requirements for candidates seeking to become English teachers that vary based on the type of school, the candidate's level of education, and other factors. These sites will lead you through the certification process. (Note: for private schools, the requirements are dependent upon the state and the school itself.)
This site is devoted to helping prospective teachers learn about teaching and about the certification process. The first step is to choose your state, as the certification process varies widely between them.
This site provides a comprehensive guide to the certification process, including the certification requirements for each state. The site also provides information on graduate programs, job openings, and more.
"How to Become a Teacher" (Teachers of Tomorrow)
This page details the process of becoming certified under "Steps To Become a Teacher: Step 4: Get ahead by pursuing a voluntary certification."
"English Teacher Careers" (Englishteacheredu.org)
This website is devoted specifically to the process of becoming an English teacher, and is filled with information on the certification process.
"Do I Need to Be Licensed to Teach in a Private School?" (Top Education Degrees)
This page gives a brief explanation of how the certification process works in relation to private schools, and ultimately shows that the question must be answered differently depending on the school.
Getting a Master's Degree
Generally, high school English teachers are not required to have a Master's Degree. Even so, a Master's can make you a more competitive candidate and make you eligible for a higher salary and certain administrative positions. A Master's Degree may also sometimes fulfill certain certification requirements. These sites provide basic information on the Master's Degree and on how to find a program. Each university's degree program will have its own site as well.
"What is a Master's Degree?" (Get Educated)
This page describes the general requirements and process for attaining a Master's degree, explains when and why it might be a good choice to pursue a Master's, breaks down the cost, and provides information on online Master's programs.
"Master's in Education Programs Resource" (Teacher Certification Degrees)
This page provides information on entry requirements for Master's programs, types of degrees, the top Master's Programs in Education, and more.
"Best Graduate English Programs" (U.S. New & World Report)
This page ranks the best graduate English Programs in America. Know that not all of these programs offer terminal Master's degree programs.
Pedagogy
In addition to knowing their subject area, high school teachers need a strong command of pedagogy: the skills and practices involved in teaching. Here you'll find resources for learning about the latest research on pedagogy and for sharing best teaching practices with other educators.
This booklet, prepared by the National Council of Teachers of English, gives guidelines on the underlying principles of teaching English, the dispositions and knowledge of effective teachers, and more.
Pedagogy is the premier mainstream academic journal for discussions of teaching in connection with English language and literature. (Note: this resource requires a paid subscription.)
This site offers a blog, a podcast, videos, and other materials to help teachers continue learning about pedagogy.
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Amazon)
This book presents cutting-edge science on what makes teaching practices effective, in terms that are easy to understand and that are supported by dozens of real-world examples.
How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Learning (Amazon)
This book is organized around seven key questions about how students learn and uses scientific research and real-world examples to address those questions and help teachers improve their classroom practices.
Tools for the Classroom
Technology can revolutionize the way that teachers teach and students learn. Here you'll find technological resources that allow you to streamline communication, assignments, and grading, to incorporate different forms of media into your lessons, and to design new kinds of assignments.
Google Classroom allows teachers to manage assignments, share resources with students, and streamline communication. Many teaching apps can be synced to work directly with Google Classroom.
Scrivener (Literature and Latte)
Scrivener is a word-processing platform that is ideal for students writing papers and doing research. It allows students to file PDFs, text documents, and images into folders that make it easy to take notes, search through materials, and keep track of sources. (Note: this resource requires a one-time purchase.)
"6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2017" (Cult of Pedagogy)
This page from the Cult of Pedagogy blog lists six technological platforms for more effective and exciting teaching and communication.
"25 Awesome Apps for Teachers, Recommended by Teachers" (TED-ed blog)
This page from the TED-ed blog lists top apps teachers can use for presentations, movie-making, note-taking, collaboration, and more.
"25 Teaching Tools for the Digital Classroom" (Teach Thought)
This site lists 25 apps that support organization, project-based learning, classroom management, presentations, and assessment.
Connecting to Other Educators
Teachers draw inspiration, ideas, and support from other teachers. Here you'll find links to blogs, online forums, events, and more. Each resource is designed specifically to help teachers connect with each other, whether in person or on the web.
National Council of Teachers of English
This site offers connections to teaching resources, pedagogical research, events, and more. NCTE aims to amplify teachers' voices through "personal connection, collaboration, and a shared mission to improve the teaching and learning" of English.
"25 Useful Forums and Blogs for New Teachers" (Teaching Tips)
This page lists forums for teachers to connect with other educators and blogs to help teachers stay up-to-date on a variety of issues.
"Top Teacher Blogs by Innovative Educators" (Teaching Certification Degrees)
This page lists over fifty top teaching blogs. The group was selected by Teacher Certification Degrees for their innovation and quality, and based on recommendations from other teacher bloggers.
This Facebook group is home to middle and high school English Language Arts teachers who share ideas and best practices with each other. The group also chats on Twitter under the hashtag #2ndaryELA.
This website was launched to provide teachers with a forum to share their expertise with each other through articles, blogs, podcasts, and more. The site hosts content across a range of subject areas and grade levels.
Teaching Writing
While writing is a skill used in every discipline, it is most often English teachers who provide students with foundational instruction in writing. Here, you'll find resources for teaching the mechanics of writing, the basic tools of literary analysis, and the process for crafting strong written work in a variety of genres.
Fundamentals of Grammar, Vocabulary, and Style
In this section, you'll find guides to grammar and vocabulary, as well as resources for designing lessons. You'll also find resources for improving and assessing students' skills, both through traditional written formats and through online programs.
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This guide to grammar and punctuation teaches through explanations and examples and is designed for users of all ages. On the website, you can order the book, find grammar guides and quizzes, and subscribe to their online quiz service designed for educators.
This series is designed to help students master and practice vocabulary through a variety of media, and is available in both a book and an online format.
Elements of Language series published by Holt, Rinehart, & Winston (Amazon)
This series, which covers grammar, usage, and mechanics, offers textbooks for grades six through twelve with editions for students and teachers. There are also supplemental workbooks under the title Elements of Language: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics Language Skills Practice to accompany the textbook for each grade.
"English Grammar Guide" (Education First)
This website offers detailed information and examples for a comprehensive array of topics related to grammar and punctuation.
"The WriteLab Guide" (WriteLab)
This guide offers information and examples organized by the writer's goals (Concision, Clarity, Logic, and Grammar) to help students improve the grammar, style, and argumentative strength of their work.
This site designs adaptive grammatical exercises that provide students with immediate, individualized feedback and allows teachers to monitor their progress. (Note: the Premium service requires a paid subscription).
Analytic and Persuasive Essays
A central task for high school students is learning how to analyze ideas and texts and how to write persuasively about them. A valuable foundation for lesson plans, these resources help students brainstorm ideas, break down the writing process into manageable steps, evaluate and incorporate evidence, and revise their work.
Compose Yourself!: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Analytical Writing in Secondary School (Amazon)
This book breaks down the basic structures involved in analytical writing and guides students step-by-step through the writing process with visualizations, examples, and exercises.
"A Brief Guide for Writing the English Paper" (Harvard College Writing Center)
This short guide discusses common types of assignments in English classes and how to approach them, including tips on reading strategies.
"How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay" (Bucks County Community College)
This document is a longer guide to writing literary analysis, covering the structure of the analytic essay and the use of textual evidence.
"Strategies for Essay Writing" (Harvard College Writing Center)
This page offers links to eighteen different articles on aspects of the essay writing process, from "How to Do a Close Reading" to "Counterargument" to "Revising the Draft."
"Writing the Paper" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)
This site is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of the academic writing process, with pages and videos on everything from initial brainstorming to sentence-level revision.
On this site, students can input their papers and receive targeted feedback on the concision, clarity, and logic of their argument, as well as grammatical correctness. The format makes it easy for students to revise their work and for teachers to track progress. (Note: requires a paid subscription for Premium content.)
Research Papers
Analytic papers often involve research, and today, students can turn to more sources than ever before. These resources help students learn how to organize the research process, find the best sources both in books and online, and cite their sources properly.
"How to Write a Research Paper" (WikiHow)
In a concise verbal and visual format, this page breaks down the process of writing a research paper into stages (choosing your topic, researching, making an outline, and writing your paper) and details the steps within each stage.
This search engine, designed for academic research, allows students to search for books and academic articles. It shows how each text has been cited in other work, allowing students to navigate effectively to other works of interest and to gauge the relative importance of each work within its field.
"Find Context" (Harvard)
This site lists key online resources for researching topics in English. The resources include overviews, handbooks, and companions that are ideal starting points for many research papers. (Note: many of these resources require a paid subscription.)
This site gives students access to an extensive collection of academic journals, primary sources, and books. As the content requires a paid subscription, you'll want to make sure your school, university, or public library has access before directing students here.
This short video introduces different methods for incorporating information from different kinds of sources, along with methods for citing those sources.
"Citation Information" (Univ. of North Carolina)
This website offers detailed information on how to cite sources in different citation formats, with many examples included.
"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL)
This website offers resources on conducting research, using primary sources, and citing sources in a variety of formats.
"Citation Builder" (Univ. of North Carolina)
This tool allows students to generate citations in a variety of styles to copy into their bibliographies.
Rhetoric and Literary Terms
Rhetoric is the art of persuasive speech. Literary terms name the techniques that authors use to persuade their readers and create a variety of other emotional and aesthetic effects. Here, you'll find resources to help students identify and study the literary and rhetorical devices used in texts.
This online library, which covers rhetorical figures, literary terms, genres, motifs, and more, provides each term with a detailed definition and numerous examples from classic literary texts.
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Amazon)
The dictionary from Oxford University Press provides clear definitions and examples for literary terms, figures, genres, styles, movements, and more.
"The Forest of Rhetoric" (Brigham Young Univ.)
This site provides detailed information on all aspects of rhetorical theory. There is an extensive list of literary figures and terms, illustrated with examples, that are grouped by rhetorical strategy.
This website has extensive resources on rhetoric, including a list of literary terms that illustrates each term through audio and video clips. There is also a library of speeches from colonial America to the present day that are drawn from literary, political, and cultural contexts.
Famous Speeches & Audio (History.com)
This site hosts a large archive of speeches related to every topic, from politics to sports to science. You can hear Nixon's "Smoking Gun" speech, Joe DiMaggio announcing his retirement from baseball, and much more.
"Greatest Speeches of the 20th Century" (Archive.org)
This page offers recordings of some of the greatest speeches of the 20th century, from Amelia Earhart on "The Future of Women in Flying" to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugural address.
"How to Find Speeches" (Truman State Univ.)
This page from Truman State University lists a variety of online resources for finding both texts and recordings of speeches to share with your students.
Creative Writing and Projects in New Media
Students can learn about the structures of stories and the techniques of language through creative work as well as analytical work. Here you'll find resources that introduce students to creative writing and provide alternative platforms for student work.
The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach (Amazon)
This book includes lessons, exercises, and prompts to help students get started writing poetry, all designed by teachers who are poets themselves.
The Practice of Creative Writing: A Guide for Students (Amazon)
This book guides students through the process of brainstorming, drafting, and revising their creative writing, and includes excerpts from fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and other genres as examples.
"Creative Writing Prompts" (Writer's Digest)
This page offer dozens of prompts to get students started on creative writing, along with a link to download a free guide entitled "The Writing Prompt Boot Camp."
"Creative Writing 101" (Writers' Treasure)
This page from writerstreasure.com analyzes the basic structures of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, and offers strategies and tips for writers.
"Visual Rhetoric" (Purdue OWL)
This website provides usefully introductory lessons on graphic layout, fonts, color, and the effective design of visual presentations.
A Prezi is a presentation format that uses a large map or storyboard to convey ideas visually, allowing students to move back and forth between topics and to zoom in to reveal further detail. The result is an accessible, exciting learning experience.
This website is designed for students and teachers who want to create blogs for classroom use. It allows teachers to moderate content and control privacy settings.
Teaching Fiction
Besides teaching students how to write, you also teach them how to read. Many students begin their lives as readers by delving into stories. These resources will help you select your texts, explain the basic elements of fiction, and guide students through short stories and novels of all kinds and from all countries.
Finding and Analyzing Fiction
Knowing the elements and structures common to all stories will help students better understand the fictional texts they read in class. Here you'll find resources for selecting quality works of fiction and teaching students how to recognize and analyze their key elements.
On this site, you can input information about books you've enjoyed, receive recommendations about what to read next, and participate in online discussions about books.
"Elements of Fiction" (Univ. of New Mexico)
This short handout from the University of New Mexico gives a useful overview of the basic elements of fiction that students will analyze in their work.
This page gives short definitions of the key elements for analyzing fiction with links to longer articles that allow students to explore each topic in greater depth.
"Teaching Literary Analysis" (Edutopia)
This page offers a basic breakdown of the steps involved in analyzing fiction. The format makes it easy for teachers to design student assignments around each step.
"Analyzing Novels & Short Stories" (Texas A&M Univ.)
This page breaks down the elements of fiction, offering examples for each, and shows students how to combine their analysis of each element into a single thesis.
"Literature" (Univ. of North Carolina)
This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Writing Center lays out stages for planning and writing analyses of fictional texts.
Short Stories
The short story format is one of the most popular for use in the classroom. In this section, you'll find lists of excellent short story titles and anthologies both in book form and online.
"Classic Short Stories" (Classicshorts.com)
This website offers a library of classic short stories sorted by title and author. Introduce your students to Chekhov's "A Day in the Country," O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," and over a hundred others.
100 Great Short Stories (Americanliterature.com)
This site offers links to 160 short stories. It also links to a library of "Short Stories for Students," sorted by grade level, some of which include study guides.
The Best American Short Stories
This is the home page for The Best American Short Stories collection, published annually. The series also includes The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike.
The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (W.W. Norton & Co.)
This volume includes 152 stories by 130 authors and includes an "Authors in Depth" feature highlighting five major short story writers, including essays, criticism, interviews, and more.
The Art of the Short Story (Amazon)
This volume collects the best short fiction by 52 classic authors.
(Chiefly) American & British Novels
Novels' length and complexity make them engaging for students, but the same qualities make them challenging to teach and read. Here, you'll find strategies for reading and teaching novels, as well as lists of classic novels for high school students.
"20 Indispensable High School Reads" (Edutopia)
Complied by the Edutopia community, this is a list of the top 20 novels for high school classrooms with brief summaries of each.
"Popular High School Classics Books" (Goodreads)
This list of over 200 classic works for high schoolers, from Animal Farm to One Hundred Years of Solitude, was compiled by the users of Goodreads.
This website offers over 56,000 free, digitized books in the public domain, including many classic novels. Each text has been proofread carefully, and most are included in multiple formats.
Ariel Sacks, an English teacher in New York City, outlines her approach to teaching novels in their entirety. The site provides a link to her book Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach and to her blog Teaching for the Whole Story.
"How to Teach a Novel: Six Ways to Improve Close Readings" (How to Teach a Novel Blog)
This post offers techniques for teaching students to close-read novels. The home blog, How to Teach a Novel, offers useful tips and strategies for teaching literature with special emphasis on teaching novels.
"10 Ways to Teach Literature with 'The New York Times'" (The New York Times)
This page offers ten concrete ways to use the resources of NYTimes.com to teach classic works of literature in the high school classroom.
World Literature
In college and high school classrooms, curricula are changing as book lists expand to include texts from countries beyond England and America. Here, you'll find reading lists, anthologies, lesson plans, and other materials for teaching literature from around the world.
"21 International Books That Belong on Your High School Syllabus" (We Are Teachers)
This article is centered around a list of novels by international authors that make excellent reading for high school students, including Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
The Norton Anthology of World Literature (W.W. Norton & Co.)
This anthology features literature by authors from around the world in the best translations for students. The volume includes maps and illustrations, as well as thematic clusters for more effective teaching.
"What Is a Good Activity for Teaching World Literature to High School Students?" (JSTOR)
This article, written by a group of teachers based on their own experience, suggests assignments and activities for teaching world literature to high schoolers. (Note: may require a paid subscription to access.)
"Invitation to World Literature" (Annenberg Learner)
This online teaching series introduces students to thirteen major international texts through videos featuring scholars, translators, artists, and writers. The site includes background material, reading support, a timeline, and other teaching resources. (Note: requires a paid subscription.)
The Man Booker Prize Prize Podcast
This podcast discusses finalists and winners of the Man Booker Prize and the Man Booker International Prize, which is open to authors and translators from around the globe. Episodes feature Prize winners and famous literary figures, offering students an in-depth look at international literature today.
Approaches to Teaching World Literature (Modern Language Association)
This is a catalogue of the Approaches to Teaching _____ series published by the Modern Language Association. Each volume offers approaches to teaching a different work of world literature, helping make these works more accessible.
Fantasy, Mythology, and Other Genres
Fantasy, myth, folklore, and fairy tales form a key part of our cultural and literary heritage. Here, you'll find anthologies and multimedia teaching resources for teaching your students about each of these genres.
This site provides a comprehensive guide to the figures of Greek mythology. Each entry is supported by references to classical authors, making it an ideal starting place for student research.
The Complete World of Greek Mythology (Amazon)
This work offers a retelling of classic Greek myths, together with information about Greek culture and society and an account of how the myths have been retold throughout history. It also features 250 illustrations and genealogical tables.
"Mythology, Folklore, and the Hero's Journey" (Varsity Tutors)
This page offers teaching resources for a variety of mythologies and folklore traditions, from King Arthur to Greek mythology to The Epic of Gilgamesh.
This TED-Ed original (the words and ideas of educators accompanied by animation) introduces students to the concept of the Hero's Journey. It includes questions for digging deeper and teaching resources for further exploration of mythology.
The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction (Amazon)
This collection features 52 stories with critical introductions. The free online teacher's guide offers a host of discussion questions, research topics, and more.
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (Amazon)
This scholarly anthology presents 25 classic fairy tales in modern translations, and guides students through their origins and cultural significance.
"Genres in Children's Literature" (iTunes)
In this iTunes U course, available as a podcast, students are guided through the various genres of children's literature, including picture books, graphic novels, and fantasy.
Teaching Poetry
Poetry can be one of the least familiar genres for students and so one of the hardest to teach. Here, you'll find anthologies with engaging poems, online libraries of poetry, and dozens of lesson plans tested by other teachers. You'll also find archives of recordings that bring the poems' language to life.
The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost (Amazon)
This anthology features canonical works of British and American poetry along with an extensive introduction and headnotes by scholar Harold Bloom.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology (Amazon)
This work offers students an accessible approach to poetry, with each chapter treating a different aspect of poetry through plenty of examples. There are also exercises for students and an ample anthology.
"Popular Poems to Teach" (Poets.org)
This page includes the text of twenty of the most popular poems taught in high school classrooms. The parent site Poets.org includes many poems and useful resources.
This site has a large collection of poems searchable by author, topic, form, period, and region. You'll also find featured poems, including a "poem of the day."
"Poetry Class" (The Poetry Society)
This webpage from the British arts organization The Poetry Society offers free lesson plans and teaching resources related to poetry.
On this page, you can find recordings of classic poems read aloud, many by the author. The parent site has many additional resources related to poetry.
Teaching Drama
Drama, with its combination of story, sound, and spectacle, can be one of the most engaging forms to teach, especially when students get to see or participate in dramatic productions themselves. Here, you'll find titles of classic plays, online texts, lesson plans, and websites that offer access to world-class dramatic productions.
50 Classic Plays Every Student Should Read (OnlineCollegeCourses.com)
This page from an online learning center lists 50 classic plays broken down by time period and genre. Each link is accompanied by a brief description of the play.
Literature Online, a ProQuest resource, offers the full text of over 6,000 plays by over 1,400 authors. (Note: requires a paid subscription.)
"4 Creative Ways to Analyze Plays" (ThoughtCo)
This article, by playwright and English professor Wade Bradford, offers creative classroom exercises to help students engage with drama.
This site, based out of the U.K., offers full-length videos of theatrical productions starring world-class actors. (Note: requires a paid subscription.)
This streaming media service offers full-length videos of Broadway productions, both musicals and dramas. (Note: requires a paid subscription.)
Folger Shakespeare Library (Folger)
This website hosts a vast array of resources related to Shakespeare, including information on his life and times, authoritative texts of all his plays, resources for the classroom, and a large gallery of images.
"Best Works of Shakespeare to Use in High School Classes" (ThoughtCo)
This page describes eight of Shakespeare's plays that work particularly well in high school classrooms, together with the themes and questions that might interest students in each play.
"How to Teach Shakespeare So Your Students Won't Hate It" (We Are Teachers)
This page from We Are Teachers offers seven helpful strategies for teaching Shakespeare's plays that may be useful when teaching other plays, as well.
"MIT Global Shakespeares" (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
This video and performance archive from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology contains clips of Shakespearean performances from around the world.
Teaching Non-fiction
One of the most important skills for students to master, no matter what future paths they pursue, is the ability to comprehend and analyze non-fiction or informational texts. Here, you'll find lists of classic non-fiction titles, strategies for helping students master informational texts, and sites that help students develop media literacy.
"AP English Language—Non-Fiction Reading List" (Old Town High School Library)
This high school library website lists high-quality non-fiction titles sorted by genre (biography, science, history, etc.) that are appropriate for students in upper-level high school English courses.
"Too Good to Be True? Considering the Reading of Nonfiction in High School" (The New York Times)
This article from "The Learning Network" at The New York Times offers suggestions for introducing non-fiction reading in the classroom, along with further resources for teachers.
This page from the National Council of Teachers of English offers an extensive list of lesson plans related to individual books and to genres of non-fiction.
"Literacy in the Digital Age: Five Sites with High-Quality Informational Text" (Teaching Channel)
This page lists five websites that offer high-quality informational texts, including sites specifically tailored to high school learners.
This website is devoted to helping students of all grade levels learn to recognize and use accurate and high-quality news sources.
"Nonfiction Award" (The Young Adult Library Services Association)
This site lists the winners and nominees for the YALSA's Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. Its Teen Book Finder Database makes it easy to search over 4000 books, audiobooks, and films for students aged 12 to 18.
Teaching With New Media
The Internet provides a wealth of resources that allow students to see and hear the world in new ways. Here, you'll find resources for film and art, teaching materials that draw on audio and video recordings, tools for creating films, and guides to incorporating social media into the classroom.
The Open University hosts hundreds of lectures and courses recorded at universities around the world on a wide variety of subjects, including a section devoted to "Arts and Humanities."
The Cultural Institute (Google)
The Culture Institute offers a variety of resources related to arts, culture, and history. The Art Project, for example, hosts high-definition images of masterpieces from museums around the world.
TED-Ed Literature and Language
This site allows teachers to access video-based lessons in every subject area and to create their own lessons. Its Literature and Language section includes lessons on literature, linguistics, and composition.
This site offers a wide variety of lesson plans based on movies, including film adaptations of some of the most popular texts taught in high school English classrooms.
"Movie Speeches" (American Rhetoric)
The American Rhetoric site hosts dozens of classic speeches from films, listed alphabetically. Watch the film interpretation of Atticus Finch's famous closing argument in To Kill a Mockingbird, or choose from two Citizen Kane clips.
The Turner Classic Movies network's site hosts a large archive of classic films. (Note: requires users to log in through a cable provider.)
Filmora is a powerful and easy-to-use video-making software program that allows students to incorporate video, music, and text into their films.
Creating and Using Video (TeacherChallenge)
This page lists useful video editing platforms and softwares, video techniques, an overview of copyright issues, and tips for using and sharing videos online.
The "Teacher Resources" page of this site provides dozens of lesson plans for integrating new media into the classroom and teaching students digital literacy.
"A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom" (Edutopia)
This article from Edutopia, authored by a teacher and IT integrator, explains why and how teachers can use social media effectively in the classroom.
"How to Use Social Media as a Learning Tool" (Edudemic)
This article, from a site devoted to connecting education and technology, explains how to use social media as the basis for student assignments and classroom activities.
Standardized Testing
Standardized tests are used to assess student progress in courses and to provide a metric to compare applicants for post-secondary programs. Below, you'll find resources related to the tests most commonly taken in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
The Common Core
The Common Core is a set of standards detailing what students should have mastered by the end of each grade level (K–12), aiming to establish consistent standards across the United States. Here, you'll find information on the Common Core standards and resources for applying them in the classroom.
"English Language Arts Standards" (Common Core)
The official site of Common Core provides detailed information on the program and its standards, including sections on foundational skills in writing and reading informational text.
"Solaro Common Core English Study Guides" (Rainbow Resource Center)
On this site, you can purchase the Common Core English Language Arts Study Guides published by Solaro. Guides for each grade level are offered.
"50 Common Core Resources for Teachers" (TeachThought)
This page from TeachThough, a brand devoted to innovation in education, offers an extensive list of resources related to the Common Core.
AP English Literature and Composition
Advanced Placement (AP) courses, developed by the College Board, offer college-level curricula to high school students. Students are tested in the AP exams administered nationwide, and their scores may earn them credits at the colleges they attend. Below, you'll find information on the AP course in English Literature and Composition, which tests students' understanding of and ability to analyze works of literature and to write persuasively about them.
AP English Literature and Composition (College Board)
The official website for the AP English Literature and Composition course offers a description and overview of the course, sample questions, scoring guidelines, and study strategies.
Barron's AP English Literature and Composition (Amazon)
This study guide contains a diagnostic test, practice tests, sample essays, a glossary of literary terms, test-taking strategies, and overviews of poetry, fiction, and drama.
"The Ultimate AP English Literature Reading List" (Albert)
This article lists the texts that appear most frequently on the exam, from Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man to Joy Kogawa's Obasan. The article is divided into sections organized by literary period.
"Works Listed on AP English Literature Exam" (Arrow Head Schools)
Here, you can find the texts that appear most commonly on the AP English Literature and Composition exam, sorted by author and by frequency of appearance.
"AP English Literature and Composition Resources" (EDSITEment)
This page, from the EDSITEment website for humanities resources, offers lesson plans and resources specific to the fiction, non-fiction, and poetry commonly found on the exam.
AP English Language and Composition
Below, you'll find information on the AP course in English Language and Composition, which tests students' mastery of rhetoric, writing, and evidence-based argumentation.
"AP English Language and Composition: The Course" (College Board)
The official webpage for the AP English Literature and Composition course offers a description and overview of the course, sample questions, scoring guidelines, and study strategies.
"AP English Language and Composition Teacher and Student Resources" (College Board)
On this webpage, teachers can find additional resources for teaching AP English Language and Composition. (Note: requires participation in AP Digital Edge.)
Barron's AP English Language and Composition (Amazon)
Barron's study guide for the AP English Language and Composition exam contains a diagnostic test, practice tests, a glossary of terms, and test-taking strategies.
"How to Teach English Language and Composition for the First Time" (Albert)
This article offers helpful resources for those preparing to teach AP English Language and Composition for the first time, from choosing texts to designing the course.
SAT Preparation
The SAT, administered nationwide in the United States, tests skills in writing, critical reading, and mathematics. Many colleges allow or require students to submit their SAT scores as part of their application. Below you'll find information about the SAT and resources to help your students prepare for the test.
"Inside the Test" (College Board)
This page offers information on the kinds of questions found on the SAT and the skills they test. The parent site offers key information about the test and additional resources for teachers.
"Official SAT Practice Lesson Plans for Teachers by Teachers" (College Board)
This page from the College Board offers a complete set of lesson plans for teachers to help students develop the skills tested by the SAT.
"Complete Guide to the New SAT in 2016" (PrepScholar)
This page from PrepScholar offers a breakdown of the changes made to the SAT in 2016, and includes study tips for the new sections.
The Official SAT Study Guide, 2018 Edition (Amazon)
This guide, published by the College Board, allows students to review the types of question that appear on the SAT and the skills that are tested.
ACT Preparation
The ACT, administered nationwide in the United States, tests skills in English, math, reading, science, and writing. As with the SAT, colleges use ACT scores to evaluate student applications. Below, you'll find information on the exam and resources to help students prepare for the test.
This page, hosted by the official ACT site, offers descriptions of the test and practice pages for each section. Though many of the resources listed require a paid subscription, you'll find "Free Test Prep Resources" near the bottom of the page.
The Complete Guide to ACT English (Amazon)
This study guide features chapters explaining each concept on the test, strategies for test-taking, practice exercises, and explanations of solutions.
ACT English, Reading & Writing Prep (Amazon)
This study guide, published by Kaplan, offers overviews of each concept on the test, test-taking strategies, practice questions, and practice tests.
GSCE (UK)
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is a qualification secured by high school students in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland upon completion of their GCSE exams. GSCEs are given in particular subject areas, including English language and English literature. Below, you'll find information about the exam and resources for helping students prepare for the exams.
"English Subject Area" (Council for the Curriculum, Examinations, and Assessment)
This is the home page for the English Subject Areas of the GSCE: English Language and English Literature. Here, you can learn about the test and its objectives and find teaching resources.
This page on a U.K. political news website offers an overview of the General Certificate in Secondary Education examination and its background.
GCSE Revision and Practice: English Language and Literature (Amazon)
This all-in-one study guide provides review material and practice questions for the GSCE exams in English Language and English Literature.
A Levels (UK)
The General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (A Level) is a secondary school leaving qualification (similar to a high school diploma) that is secured after taking two examinations. Universities use these scores to evaluate student applications. Below, you'll find information about A Levels and resources for helping students prepare for the exams.
This brief guide to As and A levels from the BBC will help you understand what the A level qualifications are, and how A levels are taught and assessed.
On this page, under the dropdown menu for "AS and A-level," you can find information on A level exams in English Language, English Language and Literature, and English Literature A and B, with links to teaching resources for each exam.
"English Language" (Oxford Cambridge and RSA)
Here, you can find a list of all A level subjects (including English language) with details about each exam, samples of past exams, and other resources.
AQA A Level English Literature (Amazon)
This guide from Oxford University Press reviews key concepts for the A Level exam in English Literature and provides practice exercises.
AQA A Level English Language (Amazon)
This guide from Oxford University Press reviews key concepts for the A Level exam in English Language and provides practice exercises.
VCE
The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is awarded to students who have completed high school successfully in the Australian state of Victoria. Students are assessed by their own schools and by an external examining board. Below, you'll find information on the VCE and resources for helping students prepare for the exams.
"Victorian Certificate of Education" (Victoria State Government)
On this page from the government curriculum and assessment authority, you can find basic information about the Victorian Certificate of Education.
"VCE Studies" (Victoria State Government)
By clicking on the links in this index (under "E" and "L"), you can find teacher resources for the VCE exams in English Language and Literature.
The website for Insight Publications offers a wide range of study guides and other materials for students and teachers. You can find guides specifically on the VCE exams, as well as guides to texts commonly covered on the exam.
-
PDF downloads of all 1908 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish.
-
Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site.
-
Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1908 titles we cover.
